Chuckie T: An Elegy

Poor Chuck Todd. The most famous goatee in political reporting—NBC’s numbers guru, quite often the (sole) Voice of Reason amid the pundit-tastic cacaphony of MSNBC’s election coverage, the guy who “offered unmatched political analysis” of the campaign—has been passed over not once, but twice, for a promotion. In favor of guys named David. Meet the Press host? Snatched by David Gregory. 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue host? Nope, David Shuster got it.

So the reaction to NBC’s announcement yesterday that Todd has been promoted to chief White House correspondent—a plum job under normal circumstances, especially considering that it comes in conjunction with Todd’s being designated MTP’s contributing editor—has been somber, almost pitying.

Even the folks at VivaChuckTodd.com, the most flamboyant fansite ever devoted to a political polling expert, were uncharacteristically subdued about the news. Their three-word nod to Todd’s ostensible move up NBC’s reportorial ladder? “Nice going Chuck.”

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today.

Megan Garber is an assistant editor at the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University. She was formerly a CJR staff writer.

Don't Miss

In June 2003, the San Francisco company Linden Labs launched a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game called Second Life. It quickly grew to over a million users, and has become a touchstone for the potential social adoption...